Improvement in the puddling process for making wrought iron



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PHILEMON MERRYMAN AND ROBERT MoOOMBS, OF WEST .FAIRVIEW,

PENNSYLVANIA. 1"

Letters Patent No. 100,916, dated March 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE PUDDLING- PROCESS MAKING WROU'GHI IRON.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making pan 0 the same T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that we, PHILEMON MERRYMAN and ROBERT MoOoMBs, of West Fairview, in the county of Cumberland, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Process of Working Gast- Iron into Wrought Iron; and we do hereby declare that low the foreplate.

Heretofore, the method has been not to tap oh" the cinder until after theiron has been made up intoballs in the furnace. This method is objectionable, in that, it keeps the cinder and iron together during the whole process up to the period of balling, whereas, it is wellknown that cinder has a direct tendency, as long as it is kept in contact with iron, to turn iron into cinder. Moreover, the balls produced by this process are of an inferior quality, having cinder mingled with iron intheir composition. Furthermore, in the old processes, the iron, expanded by heat, rises above the foreplate andis thus exposed to direct dranghtsof air, which also increase the amount of cinder. Again, itis found thata good deal of iron in small lumps is mingled with the cinder when the latter is final] y drawn off, all which iron is a total waste.

These mischicfs are wholly remedied by our process. The iron being the heavier, on melting, sinks to the bottom of the furnace, leaving the cinder floating on the surface, whence it may be readily drawn ofl. We tap the cinder just before the iron comes to a boil or ferment, as then it can all be drawn. The ori fice should be at any convenient point below the foreplate. the iron comes to a boil is the removal of all impurities of whatever sort, leaving the iron pure. All the iron that by the present process is wasted, by being mixed with the cinder, is in this way saved. The

drawing-of the cinder so reduces the bulk of the heated mass in the furnace that it does not rise above the foreplate, and thus escapes the injurious effects pro-,

duced. by external air. \Vrought iron made by our process isjust as good after one heating as can be made in any other way from the same quality of cast- I ironhy heating and reheating any number of times. Our process may be carried on in any pnddling-furnace, and may be tested without expense. It effects a great saving in fuel and time, and a greatimprovement in the quality of the iron.

Having thus described our invention,

What we claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

The process of making wrought iron by drawing off the cinder from the puddling-furnace at any time before the iron comes to a boil or ferment, and at any point below the forcplate, substantially as herein described.

' PHILEMOL MERRYMAN.

Witnesses:

PHILIP L. MENSHAW, SOLON O. KEMON. 7

ROBERT .MCGOMBS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM D. CARROLL, SOLON G. KEMOX.

The result of drawing the cinder at or before 

